AfroConscious Journal Review - Peter Mahase

I loved the journal in general. Beautiful peace of work! It is amazing how much you learn from just a few pages you read. Good African literature. It also opens a window for fellow African readers to know fellow African writers, well-known and unknown. Good connections can rise from these.

The introduction was quite relevant and eye-opening to any average reader. It made the whole journal worth the reading.

I personally enjoyed the poem, “Ke mo Bonetse”, I wouldn’t mind hearing it performed live on any stage. Even a youtube feature would be quite appeasing. I think it would deliver well in spoken word as much as it did it written verse, if not better. If the poet is a good performance poet, that is. Pass my regards to the poet. Same applies to your poem, Lest We Forget. Let me say, I just have a thing for poetry in vernacular and conscious writings in general.

The Rebirth of Ananse – another highlight! I love the story.

The skill of the writers as well as the authenticity (I believe), makes the journal worth reading. You look forward to the next story because you want to read another different mind. Which is what’s major, if you ask me.

The diversity of the general, also gives a broad selection for different moods/personalities and places.


The content in the journal is quite satisfactory. The major challenge in the journal is with the design and layout. Below I outline the key areas to revisit for the next issue.


Notes of Contributors: I believe it would be resourceful to have contacts (either facebook, twitter, or w-mail contacts of the contributors given there).

Personal: well, as my title says, this one is a bit personal. You may disregard it if you wish. I got the intention of “U Write What You Like” as being about being free to say whatever, whenever, so I didn’t go through Fezekile Futhwa’s poem/article on Christianity as to avoid being offended. I did skim through it though and came through lines such as those where he says Christianity is a commercial religion etc. With all due respect to his opinion, I thought I should say that some of this stuff may be offensive. But if that’s the intent, I have no problem. That means we should be open to take any other criticism of any other religion, race, etc disregarding who is in it. I think freedom of speech should be allowed but we should see the lines of offense as well. Like I said, it’s just my opinion.

The major suggestion I think would be to get someone to work on the layout and design of the whole journal. That is except if it is your field of focus and you want to take on the challenge. 

Why Lesotho Lexicology is incorrect

Why Lesotho Lexicology is incorrect Sesotho was largely an unwritten language in the 15th century, as most of its vocabulay was spoken and acted. Art was more in visual art than anything else. Oral literature was prominent and the large part of Sesotho literature was transmitted this way. Today, there are two versions of Sesotho, one used in Lesotho and the other used in South Africa. The issue with these variations has more to do with written literature than with Sesotho itself. The spoken Sesotho is exactly the same between Lesotho and South Africa. This has to be correct because Lesotho was larger than it currently is pre-colonisation. A large part of Lesotho was confiscated by South Africa, rendering Lesotho what it is today geographically and culturally. The phenomena of christian missionaries in Lesotho in the early 1800s saw the introduction of the written word to Basotho through the bible. It is the white missionaries who translated the bible into Sesotho, and it is the white missionaries who created the first ever Sesotho lexicology at Morija. It is important to understand the consequence of this orgin of written Sesotho as it directly affects how Sesotho is practiced in Lesotho today. The spoken Sesotho that the missionaries practiced was far below the required standard of a competent Sesotho speaker. And this incompetence is obvious in the way they pronounced Sesotho, resulting in how they later wrote Sesotho; which became the standard Sesotho of Lesotho. Their incompetence may be viewed as insignificant at first glance, but had larger than expected consequences for Sesotho. What makes their pronounciations wrong was their use of the following alphabets for things which the alphabets do not represent. For example, they used l instead of d. They used oa instead of wa. They used a instead of ya. The result of this error is that in Lesotho d has been completely phased out, almost. Meaning has also been compromised in particular contexts where it is not clear whether it is meant as a, wa or ya. They use ch to represent tjh, despite the fact that phonetically c does not exist in Sesotho. Phoenetically, Sesotho only has 23 letter of the alphabet, which omits the letters c, x and z. This is the Sesotho that is still used in Lesotho today, over forty years after independence. Since Lesotho and South Africa are so closely connected, for historical reasons including the fact that you families split between Lesotho and South Africa, you are faced with the challenge of fully understanding the written Lesotho Sesotho. People have argued that the Sesotho written in Lesotho should take precedence over the South African one, but how can a language whose founding assumptions are incorrect become standard? Why can't the language planners and practioners in Lesotho correct this obvious error? I am interested to learn what others think of this state of sad affairs. The fact that Sesotho is spoken in two countries by such a large population, this would mean that Basotho are much larger than accounted for presently. Sesotho must be standard all countries unless there are dialects of Sesotho, which simply do not exist. There are dialects of the larger language group called Sotho, but not Sesotho. Sotho as a language group includes Sesotho, Setswana and Sepedi. And Setwana particularly has got many dialects. Should the Sesotho written in Lesotho be allowed to continue to exist in current form? I think not. Article by Fezekile Futhwa Email:fezekile@futhwa.org.za Web: www.futhwa.org.za Basotho Heritage: sesotho.nalane.org.za amaXhosa Heritage: xhosa.nalane.org.za amaZulu Heritage: zulu.nalane.org.za Arts:www.bhala.co.za